The Author`S Of The Various Essays Presented Here Have Undertaken To Analyze And Describe The Stresses, Strains And Conflicts That Have Ensured As The Western Borderlands (Baluchistan, Nwfp) Became Involved In The Processes Of Modern Politics And Of Integration Into Pakistan. Contents: Political Problems Of A Borderland - Pakistan`S Imperial Legacy - The Segmentary Linkage System: Its Applicability To Pakistan`S Political Structure - Continuities In Borderland Politics - Economic Change In Baluchistan: Process Of Integration In The Larger Economy Of Pakistan - Brahui Political Organization And The National State - Pushtunistan: Afghan Domestic Politics And Relations With Pakistan. Without Dustjacket, Inscribed On The First End Page, Bookseller`S Stamp On The First End Page, Text Clean, Condition Good.

In the West, media coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan is framed by military and political concerns, resulting in a simplistic picture of ageless barbarity, terrorist safe havens, and peoples in need of either punishment or salvation. Under the Drones looks beyond this limiting view to investigate real people on the ground, and to analyze the political, social, and economic forces that shape their lives. Understanding the complexity of life along the 1,600-mile border between Afghanistan and Pakistan can help America and its European allies realign their priorities in the region to address genuine problems, rather than fabricated ones. This volume explodes Western misunderstandings by revealing a land that abounds with human agency, perpetual innovation, and vibrant complexity. Through the work of historians and social scientists, the thirteen essays here explore the real and imagined presence of the Taliban; the animated sociopolitical identities expressed through traditions like Pakistani truck decoration; Sufism’s ambivalent position as an alternative to militancy; the long and contradictory history of Afghan media; and the simultaneous brutality and potential that heroin brings to women in the area. Moving past shifting conceptions of security, the authors expose the West’s prevailing perspective on the region as strategic, targeted, and alarmingly dehumanizing. Under the Drones is an essential antidote to contemporary media coverage and military concerns.

This book explores why the Afghan-Pakistan borderlands have remained largely independent of state controls throughout the twentieth century.

Offers insights into how the new international boundary between India and Pakistan was made, subverted, and transformed.

The Afghan-Pakistan Borderlands are pivotal to international security. They are often dangerous, strategically crucial and little explored by outsiders. Robin Brooke-Smith provides a new perspective on Northwest Pakistan in this first-hand account of his years in this troubled region. Tracing the build-up to 9/11 and the upheaval that has followed, this is a captivating behind-the-scenes look into the regional fulcrum of global jihad. Recounting his experiences as Principal of the prestigious Edwardes College in Peshawar, the author explores the creation and growing influence of the Taliban, and provides a unique and close-up view into this fascinating area. This book is illuminating reading for all those interested in Pakistan, Afghanistan and the turbulent recent history of the borderlands of the 'AfPak' region.

To understand the historical complexity of the Pakistan–Afghanistan borderland, this book brings together some of the foremost thinkers of this borderland and seeks to approach its various problematic dimensions. This book presents an overview of the geopolitics of the Pakistan–Afghanistan borderland and approaches the topic from different methods and perspectives. It focuses on some of the least debated dimensions of this borderland, for instance, the status of women in the tribal-border culture, the legal status of aliens in the making of the border, material and immaterial manifestations of the border, political aesthetics of the border, and the identity crisis on the border. Given the fact that its authors come from diverse backgrounds, academic and geographic, they make an enriching contribution. Employing their expertise in different theories and methods, they focus on local memories, literature, and wisdom to understand the border. This book seeks to give voice to the plight of local tribal people, their culture, and land on an advanced academic level and makes it legible for the international audience. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Geopolitics.